MATUSZEK-STEC Gabriela

Born on 31 December 1953 in Jaworzno, Silesia; daughter of the railwayman Józef Dubiel and the housewife Waleria, née Musiał. She attended primary school in the Dąbrowa Narodowa district of Jaworzno followed by Grammar School No. I in Jaworzno. In her final school year, she was a finalist in the Olympiad in Polish Literature and Language. In 1977, she completed a degree in Polish philology at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow, graduating with a distinction. Her master's thesis, Monografia powieści „Krzyk” Stanisława Przybyszewskiego (A Monograph on Stanisław Przybyszewski's Novel "Krzyk" [The Scream]), was supervised by Prof. Maria Pozdraza-Kwiatkowska. She made her debut during her studies with the essay Start teatralny (Theatre opening) in "Magazyn Studencki" (November 1975; published under the erroneous surname: Daniel). She made her debut as a literary historian with the article Próba analizy powieści Stanisława Przybyszewskiego (Towards an Analysis of Stanisław Przybyszewski's Novels) in the journal "Ruch Literacki" (1979, no. 3). In November 1978, she took up a position at the Chair of the History of Nineteenth-Century Polish Literature (later the Chair of the History of Positivist and Young Poland Literature) at the Faculty of Polish Philology at UJ. Between 1983 and 1987, she was a lecturer in Polish language and literature at the Department of Slavonic Studies at the Humboldt University in East Berlin. She was awarded a doctoral degree in the humanities for her thesis Dialog Stanisława Przybyszewskiego ze współczesnymi. O odbiorze twórczości autora „Confiteor” w Niemczech i Polsce (Stanisław Przybyszewski's Dialogue with his Contemporaries: On the reception of his works in Germany and Poland). She was supervised by Prof. M. Podraza-Kwiatkowska. In 1992, she was made a member of the German scientific society Societas Jablonoviana (Jablonowskische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig), which promotes Polish-German academic and cultural relations. In 1994, she created and developed a Postgraduate Programme in Literary and Artistic Studies at UJ, which was Poland's first creative writing school. She was its director until 2020. She also initiated the founding of the literary periodical "Studium", which was published between 1995 and 2008. In 1998, it launched the publication series "Biblioteka Studium", which published works by young authors. In 2007, she founded the publication series Seria Studium Literacko-Artystycznego UJ (the Series of the Postgraduate Programme in Literary and Artistic Studies at UJ), which appeared with the Krakow-based publishing house Księgarnia Akademicka. From 1995, she was also active as a translator of German-language poetry. Her academic articles, reviews, essays and translations from German appeared in periodicals including "Ruch Literacki" (1982, 1985, 1988, 1991, and 1995–97), "Przegląd Humanistyczny" (1987), "Zdanie" (1988), "Słowo" (1989), "Ruch Literacki" (1991), "Studium" (1995 and 1997), "NaGłos" (1996), "Gazeta Malarzy i Poetów" (1997), "Pamiętnik Literacki" (1997), "Dekada Literacka" (1996–97, 2002–03, and 2009), and "Obserwator" (1999). In 2001, she was awarded a habilitation degree for her study Naturalistyczne dramaty (Naturalist Plays) before being appointed associate professor at UJ in 2006. In 2004 and 2006, she was a visiting professor at Humboldt University in Berlin and then also at the University of Mainz in Germersheim in 2006. She gave lecture series at universities in Berlin (2008–11), Cologne (2008), Vienna (2008–10), Leipzig (2010), Jena (2011), and Prague (2012). She established regular collaboration with universities in Berlin, Cologne, Leipzig and Jena. She held fellowships awarded by various international scientific and literary foundations, including the Deutsche Schillergesellschaft in Marbach (1995 and 1996), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; 1996), the Literaturakademie Burg Ranis (2002), International Writers' and Translators' Centre of Rhodes (2002), Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators, Gotland (2003). She is a four-time recipient of research grants from either the Polish Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) or the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation. Between 2004 and 2007, she was a member of the University Accreditation Commission for Polish studies. In 2003, she joined the Polish Writers' Association (SPP). From 2005 to 2008, she was deputy president of the Krakow Branch of SPP, before serving as its president between 2008 and 2014. She served on the Board of the Krakow Branch of SPP and the SPP Main Board until 2021. She organized many events promoting Polish literature and culture as part of her work with the Society, including the regular Krakow Poetry Nights, Krynice Literary Autumn, Krynice Poetry Festival and also the "Poezja i gwiazdy" (Poetry and Stars) poetry galas. She also organized many literary events and festivals, including the multimedia project Young Artists' Forum (2000), the international symposium "Twórcze pisanie. Tradycja, wyzwania, ograniczenia i perspektywy” (Creative Writing: Tradition, challenges, limits and perspectives"; 2014), and a host of events relating to the Postgraduate Programme in Literary and Artistic Studies at UJ. Furthermore, she coordinated literary and academic projects, including the Polish-German project involving writers and critics, Między prowincją a Europą. Uniwersalizm czy małe ojczyzny? (Between the Provinces and Europe: Universalism or small homelands?; Ranis–Krakow 2002) and the Literatura wobec nowej rzeczywistości Festival (Literature in the context of new realities; Kraków 2004). In 2004, she initiated the M. Słomczyński Literary Prize and was also a member of its jury. She was honorary patron of Krakow cultural events, including the Długosz Prize Competition (2010), the Miłosz Year of the Krakow Voivodeship Public Library (2011), and the Inter-School Competition of the Beautiful Word Mój Kraków (My Krakow; 2012–14). She was the initiator and co-editor of the publication series Krakowska Biblioteka Stowarzyszenia Pisarzy Polskich (Krakow Library of the Polish Writers' Association), published since 2009 together with Prof. Wojciech Ligęza. Her articles and literary reviews, as well as translations, appeared in periodicals including "Slavia Occidentalis" (2004), "Przestrzenie Teorii" (2007), "Topos" (2009–10), "Kraków" (2010–11 and 2014), and "Wielogłos" (2017–18). Beyond supporting literature, she also promoted the visual arts, including an exhibition at the Kolobrzeg Centre for Contemporary Art (2010), the "Więcej niż realizm" (More than Realism) exhibition at the Vauxhall Palace Gallery in Krzeszowice (2012), and the international edition of the exhibition "Magical Dreams IV" at Galerie Südliches Friesland in Zetel, Germany (2018). She also curated several of her husband, Grzegorz Stec's, exhibitions in Poland and abroad. She was made state-appointed professor in 2010. Between 2018 and 2023, she was lead researcher on a project working on producting the eleven-volume series of Stanisław Przybyszewski's literary works (Dzieła literackie). She received the UJ Rector's prize on numerous occasions (1996, 2001, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2020). She received the Medal of the Commission of National Education (2002), the Silver Cross of Merit )(2002), the Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis (2015), the Honoris Gratia (2019) award, and the Gold Cross of Meriat (2020). In 1976, she married the UJ doctor of sociology Krzysztof Zbigniew Matuszek (divorced); they had a son, Krzysztof Cyprian Matuszek (b. 1976), who is a sociologist. She married the artist Grzegorz Stec in 2015. She lives in Krakow.